Monday, November 30, 2015

The CPR made the news in November when it made an offer to buy Norfolk Southern. I’ve
taken a look at various articles and analysis of the proposed merger/takeover; find a
few questions and answers below.

What would a merger mean for
the two railways?

A merger of the CPR and NS
would mean the creation of a second transcontinental railway in North America
(CN is the other one). The system would run from Canada’s west coast to the
U.S. east coast, and also down to the Gulf coast.

Why does the CPR want to
merge with NS?

It could simply be a vanity project for Hunter
Harrison, his ambition to create a trans-continental railway. After all,
he tried to buy CSX in 2014, but was rebuffed.

CP argues that customers would benefit
from a seamless system; among other things, the CPR is notes that a merger of the two railway would mean cars would no longer need to be exchanged in Chicago, thereby speeding up transit
times.

There’s also the question of
cash—NS owns a lot of expensive real estate that the new railway could sell to
recoup its investment.

Said Harrison: “I think we’ll be able, like we did at
CP, to take some of their yards that are probably not needed in my view, and
convert them to maybe real estate and generate huge cash flow—huge –without
having a negative impact on the railroad. It’s gravy. It could be a lot. That’s
why I’m excited.” That would be on top of an estimated $1.8 billion in
operational savings, he said.

This is the same strategy he
pursued at CPR after becoming CEO in 2012, closing unneeded rail yards and
intermodal terminals, and unveiling plans to sell about $1 billion of real
estate.

He might also sell off some
of the lines that NS owns. “They probably have got the best mile-for-mile
physical plant in the U.S., but I think they’ve got too much of it,” he said.

How much is the CPR offering
NS to merge?

$28 billion.

Does NS want to merge?

NS has been publicly cool to
the idea, branding the offer “unsolicited, low-premium, non-binding and highly
conditional.”

How many miles of track are
involved?

NS has 20,000 miles in 22
eastern states. The CPR has 13,700 miles in Canada, and in the U.S. Midwest and
northeast.

Why would NS shareholders
want to merge with the CPR?

Since joining the CPR,
Harrison has led a turnaround that transformed one of the North American
industry’s least-efficient operators into one of its leanest carriers. NS, on
the other hand, is one of the least-efficient major carriers as measured by
operating ratio.

“We see no reason why we
can’t do there what we’ve done at CP,” said Harrison. “It may be even easier.
They have a better infrastructure than we do. They have always been well
respected for having a wonderful physical plant. Some of us have teased them
about being gold-plated.”

What are the hurdles?

For starters, NS has to want
to do it. But it would also need the approval of the U.S. Surface
Transportation Board or STB, which has been cool to the idea of railway mergers
in the past.

The last time a major one was proposed, in 1999, between CP's main
rival Canadian National and BNSF, the STB blocked the move and implemented a
temporary moratorium on all future Class I railroad mergers.

If the merger is successful,
what might it mean for the CPR in Canada?

Some are speculating that it could mean a move of the corporate headquarters from Calgary to
somewhere in the U.S. Harrison has denied this speculation.

Friday, November 27, 2015

The layout--his first--is based on Chris’ memories of taking
the train from Toronto to Montreal and Quebec City as a child.

From that he developed an interest in
urban scenery, CN and VIA Rail. The Rapido Route is the result.

Since it’s been awhile, I asked Chris
for an update and some new photos. Here’s his reply.

“There haven't
been too many stark changes to speak of. . . . yet (more on that in a
minute).

“I did scratch-build a new overpass that I had been wanting
to do for some time, and positioned it in place where the girder-style overpass
existed before. That bridge ended up being moved further down towards the
maintenance shop area of the layout.

“I think
that the new overpass adds to the 'feel' of the metropolitan area of the layout
as it just seems to fit in better than the girder style did.

“Some of
the backdrop areas were changed as well. I added some backdrop images that Bill
Brown from LARC Productsdid up for me, and I have been really happy
with the depth and look that the images have added.

“The
foreground structures closest to Union Station were changed around as I built a
new pedestrian walkway bridge that extends from the foreground shopping centre,
over the tracks at Union Station, and into the hotel on the other side.

"I'm
also pretty happy with the newer 'grittier' look to things as well.

“One thing that is in the planning stages right now is a
revamp of the trackplan.

"Although the current track configuration is okay, it
does have its flaws and I have really come to learn that hard lesson after a
year or so of running trains. As a result, a new trackplan is in the works that
will be quite the project in the making.

“This
will mean that the layout is going to get approximately 15 more feet added to
its current size. This will provide a more smooth operating layout, with the
ability to run more trains at one time.

“I plan on using Fast Tracks to build
handlaid turnouts for the new layout, and continue to use the PECO Code 83
flextrack for the mainline runs.

“One
lesson I have learned (albeit through some frustration with turnouts and
stalls) is that I'm really going to take my sweet time in ensuring that the
trackwork in the new plan is nothing short of bulletproof.

"Everything from
proper easements, superelevations, and smooth turnout transitions is something
that I have learned a lot about (and am still learning about), so the new plan
will be done right.

“The city scenes
won't change all that much, save for a few areas, but that will be something
that I will evaluate later on after the trackwork is down.

"I'm hoping to start
construction (again) in the spring and have the trackwork completed within a
year—which I think is very achievable. From there, the Rapido Route will take
on a different look with better operations and more staging.”

Saturday, November 14, 2015

One of Jock Oliphant's structures, on display at the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Not many people know the name Jock Oliphant—maybe a
few model railroad oldtimers. But in Winnipeg, where I live, that name is
well-known in the model railroad community.

Jock, who died in 2000, was Canada's first Master
Model Railroader (MMR #15), and the only person to win best-in-show at three successive
NMRA national conventions.

The former Winnipeg Model Railroad Club member was renowned for his intricate and detailed structures. A number of his
award-winning structures were incorporated into his layout.

At club meetings, he did an annual scenery clinic
where he would demonstrate the steps to go from raw bench work to full scenery
in 4 inch increments on a 4 foot long module.

According to WMRC member Dave Downie, Jock invited
new club members to sit up front to get a really good view. This was a signal
to older members to move back—Jock always sprayed those in the first row with
water.

His children decided to donate some
of his structures to the Winnipeg Railway Museum, where they are now on display
today in a temporary exhibit space.

I only met Jock once or twice, and never saw his
layout. It’s great to see his structures on display at the Museum.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

It's impossible to imagine the world today without the World Wide Web, which celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last year.

And it’s all because of model railroading.

OK—maybe not all because of model railroading. But
the hobby played a significant role in the life and technological development of Tim Berners-Lee, considered the
creator and founder of the Web.

In interviews, Berners-Lee shared that as a boy he
had a model railway in his bedroom.

“It was a long thin layout with a 4-track station in
the middle, and on each side pairs of tracks going off into tunnels to actually
loop back to each other,” he said, adding that he was also an active
train-spotter (what the British call a railfan).

To help with operations on the layout, he “made some
electronic gadgets to control the trains.”

This included making a making a whistle for his
locomotives.

“To control a model train it’s useful to make
whistles,” he said.

“We would make a ace table multiplier for each of the
back-to-back-to-back couple flip-flop, which made two transistors which will make a whistle—a ‘wee’ noise—and you might
want to have the whistle run for a certain period of time, which is another way
of coupling two transistors back to back so that one is stable.”

As a result of making gadgets for his model railway,
“I ended up getting more interested in electronics than trains.”

He went on to build his own computer out of an old
TV, study physics at Oxford and then, while at CERNin 1989, laid out his vision for what would become the World Wide Web.

As Stephanie Lynn put it on her blog,“the boy who tinkered with
circuits for his model trains became the man who invented the single most
valuable creation of our time.”

And to think it was all because of a young boy’s
interest in model railroading.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

One of the best layouts in Canada is the Waterloo Region Model Railway Club in Maryhill, Ont. (near Kitchener).

The club, which is modelling CP Rail near Sudbury in the 1970s, is building a massive multi-deck and multi-helix layout in a country quonset hut.

Club members are posting photos of the layout on Facebook (an increasingly common occurrence these days). Find a few of them here; for more, including construction photos and other information, visit the Club's Facebook page.

Click hereto learn more about the Club on this blog. Click here to ready about the ten helixes that make the layout possible. Click here to visit their website.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

I'm no O. Winston Link when it comes to night photography of trains.But I tried to be "Linkian" the other week by taking a "night" photo or two of the N scale Thompson River Canyon layout, using only a flashlight.

One
Prime Minister who used trains to good effect was Wilfred Laurier. In 1894, as
leader of the opposition, he used the train to visit various communities in
Ontario. For the 1900 election, he used trains to travel through Ontario, Quebec
and the Maritimes.

Another photo of Laurie's whistle stop tour.

As
Nolan put it, when the train arrived at its destination, Laurier would hold an
informal reception on the station platform with local dignitaries and others.
He’d make a few remarks, shake some hands, and then proceed to the next
stop.

The
last Prime Minister to use a train for campaigning was Pierre Elliot Trudeau,
visiting the eastern Canada in 1974.

Pierre Trudeau on his tour.

In
2008, Green Party leader Elizabeth May travelled by regular VIA trains across Canada to meet
voters.

She
did it partly to reinforce the party’s position on sustainable energy and
climate change, but also because it was cheaper. She did it again in 2011, but
this time from Toronto to Montreal.

Today, the traditional whistle stop tour is mostly a quaint thing of the
past, what with politicians using planes and busses to get around. But the term
lives on.

But now the son of Pierre Trudeau is the new Prime Minister. Since he displays his father's easy way of connecting with people, and a desire to do so, maybe one day he will resurrect his father's whistle stop ways.

About Me

Click here for a topical index to the blog.
Click here for an index by year to the blog.
Click here for an index of Great Canadian Model Railroads.
Click here for an overview of the layout from the December, 2009 Railroad Model Craftsman.
Click here to view videos of the layout on YouTube.
Click here for a track plan.